Money Doesn't Grow on Trees
by Abe Lincoln Lover
Summary: Nobody's ever looking for any other thieves besides KID.
1. Chapter 1

Aoko sometimes went to help her dad out at the heists.  
She'd bring him lunch, or dinner, depending what time of day it was.  
Sometimes Kaito'd tag along, too, but then he'd disappear randomly and she'd be all alone.  
Today was a day like that.  
Kaito had left, _again_, and she hadn't tried to stop him.  
It was futile, trying to get him to stay.  
But he left her all alone, to just wander around in those empty halls.

She reflected that there really could've been worse places to be left at.  
These hallways were nice and rich, and elaborately decorated.  
Purple curtains hugged each tall window, and golden statues stood in increments off to her sides.  
The carpet looked like it was vacuumed - or maybe even handcleaned - each day.  
Aoko looked up and saw the chandelier hanging from the painted ceiling.  
She sighed.  
What she wouldn't give to have a house like this.  
But still... who had this type of money?  
Who could afford this?  
All her life it had always been coupons for this, sales for that, hand-me-downs for everything.  
Once she asked her dad for a new computer and he said that they couldn't afford it.  
She knew it was hard on him, trying to support a family on just a single parent's income.  
She had thought about getting a job, to try and help out with the expenses.  
"Aoko, I'm not letting you do that," her dad scolded her.  
"Just stay in school and let me take care of everything, okay?"  
She thought about it now, and sighed to herself again.  
The people living here never had to worry about that type of thing, did they?

Everyone was babbling on and on about how KID was supposed to be coming soon.  
They were literally counting down the seconds until he came.  
She supposed that it was actually quite ridiculous.  
Everybody was watching for KID, watching for any of his traps...  
That it seemed that nobody would even notice...  
If another thief came by and simply -plucked- one of those gold statues off its stand..._  
_

When everything was over, she found Kaito's face in the mob.  
Her dad was with him, so she made her way over to them.  
"Did you catch him, Tou-san?" she asked, as she always did.  
He shook his head. "Not this time."  
That meant another big mansion to go to, more gold statues, and more purple curtains.  
"You'll get him, I believe in you!" Kaito was the one who brought her dad's spirit back.  
"Of course I will!" Her dad grinned. "As long as I'm around, no thief can go free!"  
She tried to ignore the heavy weight in her purse.


	2. Chapter 2

When she got back home, she emptied her purse out onto her bed.  
The gold statue stared back at her.  
She stood up and walked away, walked into the bathroom and stared in the mirror.  
She saw a frazzled, nervous, scared teenage girl.  
Her eyes darted back to her room across the hall.  
She turned the faucet on and splashed some water onto her face.  
It didn't help.  
She was still a thief.

She went back into her room.  
The statue was still there, laying on her bed.  
She closed her eyes and packed everything back into her purse.  
Lying down on her bed, she curled up and thought about everything.  
Maybe if she went to sleep, maybe then she'd feel better about this.  
Maybe everything would be better in the morning.  
She drifted away.

Morning came too soon, and she felt worse.  
It was Saturday, so she got up late.  
Her dad was downstairs, watching some show on TV.  
As she got out her breakfast she realized _what _he was watching.  
"_Last night_," the news anchor reported, _"a gold statue was stolen from..."  
_She'd heard enough.  
She brought her cereal with her into bed.  
Her dad eventually came up to talk to her. "You're not feeling well?"  
"Yeah," she answered.  
Which was the truth.  
"A statue was stolen from the mansion last night, did you know that?"  
She knew he was only trying to make conversation but it still made her feel terrible.  
She didn't trust herself to speak so she shook her head instead.  
Her dad kept talking.  
"Well, apparently they'll be searching around for the culprit.  
We're pretty sure it's not KID because he only steals what he says he will."  
At least KID was honest.

Around noon she got out of bed again.  
She was nervous about what she should do.  
She couldn't give the statue back, because then they'd arrest her.  
It wouldn't matter that she gave it back, because she was a thief.  
KID was still a thief, even though he gave things back.  
She was no different.  
She sat at the dining table for a while, contemplating her options.  
She figured that she could always throw it away.  
But then what was the point of stealing it?  
Everything was warped and weird and wrong.  
She put her head down and groaned.  
What did she get herself into?


	3. Chapter 3

She brought the statue with her to school on Monday.  
It wasn't so much that she wanted it with her, as that she didn't want her dad finding it.  
She knew her dad was a just man, and would put her in jail even though she was his only daughter.  
He'd be upset, and he'd let her know it, but he'd still do it.  
He wasn't like her at all.  
He wasn't about to break all his morals just in one stupid move.  
And if he ever got caught, he'd be charged with hiding and aiding a criminal.  
She didn't want her dad going to prison for her.  
She couldn't do that to him.

Kaito seemed to notice that something was wrong with her when she didn't speak to him at all.  
He probably thought she was on her period or something so he didn't question it.  
For some reason she wished he did so that she'd have to spill it to someone.  
It was _eating_ at her.  
She wondered if KID ever had this happen to him.  
Did he ever feel bad about what he did at night?  
Did he ever stare at his winnings and regret it?  
Is that why he always gave things back?  
Because he was a good person, at heart?

She didn't go home after school.  
She didn't want to.  
She didn't feel welcome there.  
Instead, she hopped onto a train and went to Tokyo, just to get away from it all.  
There, she walked around on the streets until -somehow- she wound up at the front gates of Tropical Land.  
It seemed to call to her, especially since there were no amusement parks just lying around in Ekoda.  
She paid the entrance fee and went in, trying her hardest not to regret the unnecessary expense.  
From there, she went on a whole bunch of rides by herself.  
She was alone on the rides and she was alone in this situation.  
A couple kids passed by her, laughing and yelling and eating cotton candy.  
She wanted cotton candy too.  
She also wanted to just get rid of the damn statue.  
Neither seemed to want to happen.  
She kept wandering around until night, because night meant that the park was going to close.

She passed by an arcade on her way out, and for some reason decided to stop there.  
The place gave her the chills and naturally she decided to go check it out.  
Behind the arcade, the air felt cooler and thinner, and had the feeling that graveyards do.  
She sensed that maybe something important happened here.  
More importantly, though, she noticed that there were no cameras there.  
She closed her eyes, leaned against the wall, and slid down.  
She knew what to do.  
It wasn't the right thing.  
But it was something.  
She pulled the statue out.  
Examined its gleaming features and perfect curves.  
She set it carefully down on the ground, as if it was a tombstone for a person whose life stopped there.  
For some reason it didn't feel like the tombstone was for herself, or related to her case at all.  
It made her think, just that little bit.  
Maybe her theft was just part of the bigger picture.  
Her crime was just one out of the many.  
The statue was just one out of the many.  
This was all just insane.  
She stood up and crept slowly away.  
She left the statue there, and made sure not to look back.  
Nobody would know, nobody could tell.


	4. Chapter 4

She left Tropical Land soon after.  
Her train home was delayed due to a murder occurring on it, but everything soon was cleared up.  
Mouri Kogoro had been there, after all.  
He was the type of person you could count on to solve that type of thing.  
You could -count- on him.  
Aoko sighed.  
Her dad would never be able to count on her again if she told him.  
Not that he would have to, since she'd be in jail, but still.  
It was the idea that counted.

She made it home, safe and sound, eventually.  
The night passed rather peacefully, despite the ongoing troubles in her mind.  
She awoke the next morning tired yet still there.  
Kaito was already in the kitchen, waiting for her because apparently she woke up too late.  
"Hey, Ahoko, aren't you the one always telling me to hurry up?"  
She nodded sleepily.  
He looked at her.  
"Are you okay?  
You wanna stay home?  
I can just tell sensei -"  
She shook her head.  
"I'll go to school, don't worry about it."  
He let it go for the moment, but still cast some looks at her during the walk to school.  
Let him, she decided.  
It wasn't like she cared anymore.  
How could she?

And so school passed all so un-smoothly, since Aoko hadn't done her homework at all.  
Her teacher had been really irritable about that, until Kaito told her that she hadn't been feeling well.  
Thus, Aoko got off on a minor warning.  
It made her feel bad, that -Kaito- needed to step in and protect her.  
It felt like he did that a lot.  
"Damn it, Kaito, I don't need your protecting," she mumbled under her breath.  
"What was that?"  
"Nothing," she responded, and it wasn't like he would have liked hearing that anyway.  
He dropped the subject and she looked towards the window for the rest of the day.

The walk home was short, but felt long on that day.  
Especially since she was just bursting to tell someone.  
So.  
She did.  
"Kaito, I need to tell you something."  
"Hmm?"  
He sounded like he cared.  
That was a start.  
Kaito never cared, ever.  
She took a deep breath.  
"I took the statue."  
He looked at her.  
He looked at her.  
She looked at him.  
He looked at her.  
"Well, where is it?"  
"I..."  
She didn't want to say it.  
But she had to.  
"I went to Tokyo and left it there."  
She abruptly sat down on the sidewalk and started crying.  
Kaito paused a moment before sitting next to her.  
"Hey, we'll get it back, alright?"  
He wasn't understanding.  
"I'm gonna go to jail, Kaito!"  
He shook his head.  
"Just tell your dad it was an accident or something.  
Or we can even blame it on KID."  
What?  
"We can't do that.  
KID would say we're liars and-"  
Kaito cut her off.  
"I think the police would believe you more than him."  
"I'm not going to lie to my dad!"  
He stared at her.  
"You already did, didn't you?"  
She looked at the ground and bit her lip.  
She didn't like the idea, but it wasn't like she had a choice...  
"Fine."  
"So, anyway, where'd you leave it?"  
She closed her eyes.  
"An amusement park."  
"Tropical Land?"  
"Yeah."  
He stood up.  
"Hey, come on.  
Let's do our homework and head over, okay?"  
She nodded her head.  
There was no choice, after all.


	5. Chapter 5

When they arrived in Tropical Land, the sun was at the horizon.  
It wasn't quite sunset yet, but it wasn't quite day anymore either.  
Kaito stared at her.  
"So where is it?"  
She led him to the building, and to the yard behind it.  
She supposed that she really shouldn't have been surprised when it wasn't there.  
His eyes met with hers, and she just felt even worse.  
He seemed to have been expecting this.

Again, it was Kaito who took control of the situation.  
"Well, I guess we'll just have to look for it.  
How likely do you think it is that someone put in the lost and found, eh?"  
Not likely, she knew.  
Not likely at all.  
They still checked, anyway, even though they knew it wouldn't be there.  
The sun was starting to set now.  
Kaito and her walked around the park a couple times, both yielding the same result:  
Nothing.  
Absolutely nothing.  
She felt like she was about to cry, but she didn't.  
How could she?  
This was all her fault.  
Still, Kaito was there trying to make her feel better.  
"We'll get it back eventually, don't worry."  
She looked hard at him.  
"How?  
How can we ever get it back?  
Somebody probably walked off with it!  
And it's not like we can just post 'lost' posters -"  
He cut her off.  
"Don't worry about it."

Kaito dropped her off at her house.  
Her dad wasn't home yet, thank goodness, so he wouldn't ask where she'd been.  
She trudged up to her room, crestfallen about her horrible luck.  
All tried and tired, she collapsed onto her bed.  
Crinkle.  
...crinkle?  
She got up and looked at her bed.  
There was a note.  
"KID?" she mumbled.  
She picked it up and read it.  
Her face whitened.  
She closed her eyes tightly and made sure she _didn't cry_.  
Crying wouldn't make this better.  
Crying wouldn't make this go away.  
She took a deep breath and read the note again.  
NAKAMORI AOKO:  
GIVE US THE STATUE.  
IN RETURN WE WILL RETURN YOUR FATHER.  
IF YOU ARE WILLING TO COOPERATE, CALL THIS NUMBER:  
969-6261  
YOU HAVE 36 HOURS  


She knew it would be stupid to wait.  
She called Kaito up immediately and told him everything.  
He was at her house in a minute, hugging her and telling her to calm down.  
Apparently she was hysterical.  
Funny, because it didn't feel like she was.  
After a while she calmed down, though, and Kaito looked at the note in person.  
"So," he stated, "you didn't see who dropped this off?"  
She shook her head.  
"It was there when I got home."  
He thought about it.  
"We were gone for about three hours, so we could have anywhere from 33 to 36 hours left."  
She grimaced.  
"What do you think they'll do to Tou-san if we -"  
"Hey, Ahoko, don't think about it like that.  
We'll get it back.  
Don't worry."  
And then he smiled at her.  
He fucking smiled.  
She almost cared.  
"So what now?"  
He gave her a side glance, not wanting to take his eyes off the note.  
"We'll see."  
And then he thought about something a bit.  
"I'll be back in a bit.  
Until then, stay here and lock the doors.  
I don't want these creeps to get you too."  
She watched him leave and didn't say goodbye.  
He was going to be back soon.  
Everything was going to be fine.  
He would be back.


	6. Chapter 6

And of course he wasn't back.  
She stayed up all night, watching through the window.  
Waiting.  
She wanted to be mad at him for lying, because that would mean not being so scared.  
But she was on the verge of becoming hysterical again, anyway.  
She thought about how, maybe, those guys got Kaito, too.  
They were going to kill everyone around her.  
Because - because that's what the note meant, right?  
A time limit meant hours until death.  
They didn't specify but she knew that was what they meant.  
She took a breath and checked her watch.  
Four o'clock in the morning.  
Too many hours had passed.  
Kaito wasn't coming.  
She shut her eyes.

Apparently she had fallen asleep.  
She checked her watch immediately, and discovered it was time to get ready for school.  
But that was stupid.  
So.  
Stupid.  
She wasn't going to school today.  
She went to her room and grabbed her purse.  
It would help her, comfort her.  
Hopefully.  
She went back to the living room and opened the front door.  
Kaito was there.  
"I'm back," he grinned.  
She gaped at him.  
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO?"  
He tsked at her.  
"Is that any way to say thank you?"  
She frowned.  
"What would I thank you for -"  
He held up a piece of paper.  
"I have an address."  
And that would be helpful, she knew.  
She shut her mouth.  
His smile broadened.  
"Let's get that statue!"

It turned out that the address was, of course, in Beika.  
So that explained why they were currently sitting side by side on a train.  
She turned to Kaito, who was looking out the window.  
"By the way, how'd you get the address?"  
His eyebrows furrowed.  
"I just did, okay?"  
She narrowed her eyes at him.  
But she let it go.  
Who cares how he got it, anyway.  
As long as it helped them, it was fine with her.  
Right?

Eventually they wound up in front of a building with some TV show being played inside.  
Kaito turned to Aoko and shrugged.  
"I guess this is it."  
Aoko took a deep breath and led the way up the stairs, to the front door.  
Knocked politely three times.  
A disgruntled - drunk? - voice called out, "Go away, we're closed."  
Kaito sighed and rolled his eyes.  
"Detective Mouri, please open up.  
We need to talk to you about something."


	7. Chapter 7

After some convincing, Kaito was able to make Detective Mouri open the door.  
He had a suspicious look in his eye, and Aoko was a hundred percent sure that he was the guy.  
Mouri, not Kaito.  
She mentally slapped herself to remind herself that it didn't matter.  
They walked in and took a seat on a couch that she presumed was usually used for clients.  
Well, they were sort of like clients, right?  
They were looking for a stolen item.  
And Detective Mouri could help them find it.  
Because he had it.  
Mouri sat across from them.  
"So what are two teenagers here for during a school day?  
Do you have a case or what?"  
Kaito opened his mouth to speak but Aoko beat him to it.  
"We're looking for a gold statue that I lost at Tropical Land yesterday."  
Mouri's face went pale.  
Kaito continued what she was saying.  
"We know you have it, Detective Mouri."  
Mouri folded his arms across his chest and pouted.  
"Two kids like you don't even know how much it's worth.  
It's better that I have it."  
Kaito stood up.  
"Detective Mouri, if you do not give it back, we will report you for theft."  
Mouri's face went even whiter.  
"B-but I didn't steal it, I just found it -"  
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.  
It'd be easier just to give it back now."  
Aoko could barely believe what she was hearing at this point.  
Kaito - Kaito was -threatening- Mouri with reporting him for theft when...  
When it was her who stole the statue in the first place!  
And Kaito was making it sound like Mouri stole it from them!  
She kept her mouth closed anyway, and somehow Kaito got Mouri to spill it.  
"Fine! Fine, I found it when I brought the detective brats to Tropical Land yesterday.  
I didn't think that anyone was looking for it!  
There weren't any posters up for it!  
I swear!"  
Kaito stared at him.  
"So you didn't bring it to the lost and found?"  
"Erm, well it's worth a lot of money -"  
"Just give the statue back," Kaito pressed.  
Mouri Kogoro frowned but got up and retrieved it.  
When he handed it to Aoko, Kaito thanked him.  
And then they were on their way.

They sat themselves down on the bench across from the detective agency.  
They needed to sort this all out.  
Aoko pulled the note out of her bag and looked at Kaito.  
"So we call now?"  
His mouth tightened but he nodded.  
"Damn it," she mumbled.  
"What?"  
"My phone's out of charge," she explained.  
Kaito's eyebrows went up.  
"Are you serious?"  
She nodded.  
"My phone's at home," he stated.  
She stood up.  
"Then let's just get going."  
Kaito pulled on her arm.  
"Wait.  
Can't we just ask -"  
His eyes traveled to the agency.  
Aoko shook her head furiously.  
"No no nonononono"

Knock knock.  
Mouri opened his door a second time.  
"You brats back?  
What do you want this time?"  
Kaito coughed and smiled sheepishly.  
"Um, can we use your phone?  
We just need to call someone, and our phones died -"  
"FORGET IT!"  
Mouri slammed the door in their faces.  
Psh, the nerve of those guys.  
He went back to his desk and resumed watching his horse races.

Kaito turned to Aoko.  
"Well that could have gone better," he announced.  
She scoffed.  
"Clearly."  
They started down the stairs.  
Suddenly Kaito stopped.  
"What now, baka?  
Let's just get home and call."  
Kaito's face crept into a mischievous smile.  
"How about we -make- Detective Mouri lend us his phone?"  
Aoko glared at him.  
"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?  
He's not going to open his door again.  
He knows it's us."  
Kaito stayed silent, but his grin only grew.  
Aoko sighed.


	8. Chapter 8

Aoko watched on patiently from the bench.  
She resisted the urge to giggle, because this was a serious situation and giggling would be wrong.  
Still, Kaito just looked plain -stupid- from his place on the side of the building.  
He was there, of course, because he was climbing up to the window.  
Naturally.  
Aoko was supposed to be the lookout and make sure nobody bothered them.  
There wasn't anything she could really do about the on-watchers, though.  
It felt like everyone on the street was watching.  
They probably all were, anyway.  
Her face burnt up.  
This was just so -embarrassing-...

Kaito finally got up to the window and tapped lightly.  
Detective Mouri was surprised audibly.  
He opened the window and poked his head out to look at Kaito, who was standing on the ledge of the next window over.  
"You damn kid, how many times do I have to tell you to go away!"  
"Mouri-tantei, we just need to use your phone -"  
"Haven't you heard of a payphone!"  
But somehow Kaito had pushed Mouri out of the way and jumped into the agency.  
Aoko heard some yelling - mostly on Detective Mouri's part - and then silence.  
And then Kaito stuck his head out and called down to her.  
"Aoko, he says it's okay!  
Just come up the stairs and we can make the call!"  
She resisted the urge to slink away into an alleyway and hide from all the watchers, and made her way up to the agency.  
Everybody else resumed their activities.

Mouri sat in his chair and watched them.  
"So what's so important about this phone call that you just -had- to break in here and -"  
Kaito shushed him as he started dialing.  
It had been agreed on that he would do the talking, rather than Aoko.  
He was the calmer one, and could keep his nerves in check.  
Since they were expecting Aoko, though, he would be speaking in her voice.  
They all went dead silent as the last number was pressed.  
So silent that the voice on the other end could be heard clearly by everyone in the room.  
"_Ah, so you decided to call finally._"  
Kaito's face paled slightly, and Aoko got the feeling that he recognized the voice.  
But why would he know the guy that kidnapped her dad?  
"I called, isn't that what matters," Kaito replied coolly.  
"_Yes, it does.  
And don't you worry about your father, he's not dead._  
_Yet."  
_Kaito's grip on the phone tightened.  
"Look, we have the statue, so -"  
"_We're going to send one of our members over to your house to pick up the statue.  
Don't try any tricks, or you'll regret it._"  
"Are you going to be giving Tou-san back at that time?"  
"_We'll see how things turn out._"  
Click.

Kaito stared at the phone in his hand.  
"That was different," he commented, voice back to normal.  
Mouri looked between the two of them angrily.  
"What the -hell- was that?"  
The two of them shrunk back like two kids being scolded for doing something dangerous.  
But wasn't that what wasn't happening?  
Mouri stood up and glared at them.  
"I am correct in believing that two -teenagers- are dealing with a hostage situation by themselves?  
And haven't even called the police yet?"  
Kaito shrugged sheepishly.  
"Well, there was a time limit -" he tried.  
"YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED THE COPS!"  
Aoko was the one to break them out of their argument.  
"Hey, we need to get back to my house..."  
Both of them stopped in their tracks and stared at her.  
"Why?"  
"Well, that guy said he'd be sending someone over and -"  
"Damn it!"  
Kaito grabbed Aoko's wrist and pulled her with him to the door.  
"Thank you for letting us use your phone, Mouri-taneit," he called over his shoulder.  
Mouri watched on for a second before coming to his senses.  
"Hold on!  
You can't deal with something like this yourselves!"  
He followed them out the door, jogging to catch up with them.  
He wouldn't let them do this themselves.  
If he wouldn't let Ran, he wouldn't let them.


	9. Chapter 9

They had managed to snatch a four-seater booth on the train.  
Detective Mouri sat across from them, staring intently at them.  
"I just don't see why you had to come," Kaito practically whined.  
Aoko jabbed him with her elbow.  
Mouri glared at him.  
"I am -not- letting two teenagers handle this themselves.  
Now tell me the whole story so that I can help."  
Aoko sighed.  
There was no way around this, was there?  
She was going to have to confess that the statue was stolen, and -  
Kaito answered for her.  
"Aoko was at the KID heist on Friday.  
When she was there, KID must have put the statue in her bag or something -"  
Wait what?  
"- and she didn't notice until she got home.  
She didn't know what to do with it, and then when she accidentally lost it at Tropical Land she panicked."  
This wasn't how it went at all.  
She looked at Kaito curiously.  
Why was he making all this up?  
"We went looking for it the next day, but you had apparently already taken it home.  
That's why we went to you."  
Mouri thought about this for a moment.  
"But that doesn't explain the kidnapping situation you two got yourselves into."  
Aoko took this over.  
"When I got back home last night, there was a note saying that I had to give the statue to this person.  
They kidnapped my dad and told me I had thirty six hours to call them."  
Mouri looked like he was going to explode.  
"AND YOU DIDN'T CALL THE POLICE AT THIS POINT?!"  
Kaito sweatdropped.  
"Well, you see, if we had called they would've thought that -we- stole the statue -"  
"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!  
NEXT TIME CALL THE POLICE!"  
They stayed silent for the rest of the ride.

Aoko's house was only a couple of blocks from the train station, so they decided to just walk.  
Aoko made them pick the pace up a bit, however, since she was nervous they might miss the "meeting."  
Kaito, of course, told her to calm down, that they were going to be a bit late but it'd be all right.  
Mouri stayed quiet.  
It occurred to all of them simultaneously about halfway into the trek that they hadn't officially introduced themselves.  
Mouri coughed.  
"So who are you two, anyway?"  
"Oh yeah," Kaito mused.  
How had they all forgotten about this?  
"I'm Kuroba Kaito, and this here is Nakamori Ahoko."  
"It's -Aoko-, you baka!"  
"Sure, sure," he conceded, hands held up in defeat.  
Mouri groaned.  
This was getting to be just like Ran and that detective brat.

They reached Aoko's house.  
There was a car sitting in her driveway.  
There was a car sitting in her driveway which was definitely -not- her dad's car.  
Her stomach plummeted and she instantly remembered how dangerous these people probably were.  
And then, just how creepy it was that their car was just -sitting there- in her driveway.  
She felt sick.  
But she had to go into the house.  
There was no choice.  
She looked at Kaito and he nodded.  
It was go time.  
All three of them entered.

"You finally showed up," a voice greeted.  
It was a different voice than before.  
But this voice had a face this time, and a body.  
This voice had a brown trenchcoat, and a thick horseshoe mustache.  
She looked at the man and studied him for forever.  
She wanted to look away but at the same time she didn't.  
Kaito, by her side, stiffened noticeably.  
So he was on guard.  
She saw the gun in the man's hand, and instinctively straightened up as well.  
She was -really- on guard, now.


	10. Chapter 10

"We have the statue."  
That was Mouri.  
Aoko gave him a strange look.  
This was supposed to be her problem.  
He was acting like Kaito and butting into her problems.  
She didn't even know the guy before today!  
The man in the trenchcoat snorted.  
"Is that so?  
Heh.  
Give it to me."  
And then all eyes went to Aoko.  
Because Aoko had the purse, and Aoko had the statue.  
In an instant her bag became lighter.  
"Give Nakamori-keibu back, or we won't give it to you."  
She knew he had it but he wasn't holding it.  
Somewhere he had hid it...  
The man grinned at Kaito's declaration.  
"You're Kuroba Toichi's kid, aren't you?  
You know what we're capable of.  
Don't get in our way.  
Now hand it over."  
And through all of this Aoko was just getting even more confused.  
It sounded like Kaito was supposed to know something?  
Everything and nothing was making sense.  
Kaito suddenly held the statue out.  
"Then take it."

Mouri watched on wordlessly.  
He wasn't comfortable with letting a teenager talk to a criminal, but...  
For some reason it seemed like the right thing.  
The kid seemed like he knew what he was doing.  
But all kids were cocky and arrogant like that, right?  
He took a step back, and his heel hit the door.  
He hadn't been aware he'd been standing so close to it.  
For some reason he felt his hand reach for the knob.  
He let it stay there, resting.

Kaito tossed the statue to the man.  
He caught it.  
Everything was still.  
And then -  
_Aoko remembered a trip to the hospital_ -  
Shots started flying -  
_They were visiting her mother who had stage IV breast cancer_ -  
Something red and wet crashed against her hand -  
_And her dad and her had had a pretend picnic with her mom in the hospital room_ -  
The shots kept coming even when she fell on the floor -  
_And a week later she was dressed in black_ -  
She covered her face and cowered -  
_She watched as her mother's ashes were brought out to her dad_ -  
And of course they wouldn't have just let them walk out of there alive -  
_And her dad's face was just covered in tears_ -  
Until everything was still again.

The room was red and people were on the floor.  
Mouri Kogoro, the famous detective, was not.  
He had snuck outside, somehow, and called the police.  
He hid as the man rushed out to his car as soon as the sirens came screeching.  
And then he went back in the house.  
And saw the mess.  
Saw everything.  
Saw a teenage girl sprawled on the floor.  
Saw a teenage boy laying right on her, in a protective position.  
Saw the blood puddle seeping out from underneath them.  
But most of all, he saw two tired chests still breathing.  
And that was all that mattered.


End file.
